


pierce the sea

by bunari



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: (Ish) - Freeform, Alternate Universe - College/University, Drabble, F/M, House Party, One-sided pining, jun and minghao are both your friends and your wingmen, this really only exists because i was not ready for a nipple piercing on little old lee jihoon, vaguely incomplete
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-12 23:50:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16005875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bunari/pseuds/bunari
Summary: in which meeting the boy you've been staring at for months goes 100% not how you wanted it to go, but you learn something new anyways.





	pierce the sea

**Author's Note:**

> alert alert lee jihoon (aka the best small boi aka the last person on earth who i thought would get a nipple piercing) might have a whole-ass nipple piercing and i can’t handle it sos send help
> 
> this is not much and very roughly put together, but i hope you enjoy!

[ ](http://i.imgur.com/57FwVko)

Something about Lee Jihoon had always caught your attention, and you found that no matter how hard you tried or what you did, you could never take your eyes off him. Everyone else always pointed out the contrast between him and the towering boys he hung out with, but to you, it had always been the way he carried himself. No matter where he went, he had a sort of confidence that rose like the tide – slow and steadily enveloping all it could see, with no warning until it was too late, and there wasn’t much you could do to avoid getting swept up in his current. It was much too distracting – _he was much too distracting_ – to your chagrin, and your friends loved to tease you for it.

“You’re staring again,” Minghao chides, nudging you in an effort to snap you out of your daze. You flush and jerk your gaze away from the scene of Woozi, nestled behind the glass pane of a coffee shop with a drink in hand. You weren’t _staring_ ; you were just…wondering what he was doing. Really.

Mind still buzzing with whispers – _maybe he was finishing up a project? or working on something new? you had heard that he and seungkwan wanted to put a song together_ – as you follow Minghao through the crowd of students, you realize you’ve let yourself lag behind and double your pace so as to catch up. However, you can’t help but glance over your shoulder, just to catch one last look of the quiet boy that manages to linger in the back of your mind. Just once more.

You’re not quite ready, though, for the stare that meets yours. It must be a coincidence - he can’t really be looking at _you_ – but it’s hard to deny the draw of his gaze and the way it pulls your breath from you. All you can focus on is the way his eyes slowly widen, like flowers blooming in the dawn, the soft slant of his jaw, and how his eyebrows duck underneath his fringe. Everything else fizzles out ( _although that might be the lack of oxygen_ ) and maybe, just maybe, he really is looking at you.

If he is though, you’ll never really know. Minghao is pulling you along, murmuring under his breath about spacing out again ( _a bad habit that you really do need to fix_ ). The moment is gone, and you’re swept up in the swell of the crowd.

You have the rest of your day to go through. You have errands to run, people to catch up with, things to do, but all you can manage to think about is Lee Jihoon.

_Lee Jihoon, Lee Jihoon, Lee Jihoon, your heart beats, as you drown in the ocean of his being._

xxx

Normally, you are very thankful for Jun and Minghao. Hardly anyone from your town ever left home, but by a twist of fate, the three of you had applied to the same university and made it in. It was nice to have familiar faces in a new city, and you would appreciate anyone willing to indulge your nostalgic cravings. Now though, you’re not so sure.

By some stroke of luck, Jun and Minghao are apparently good friends with Hoshi, who is throwing a party tonight. Hoshi is apparently very good friends with Woozi, who you are still thinking about 3 days later.

 _Pathetic. He looks at you once, and you’re stuck on that? God forbid you actually talk to him_.

Jun has been sick of you pining over Woozi, as his suggestions of just propositioning him fall on deaf ears. Normally Minghao pities you enough to not egg Jun on, but after seeing how bad you have it, he’s decided to switch sides ( _the traitor!_ ). Which is why you find yourself in an unfamiliar house full of Hoshi’s wide array of friends, with Jun not-so-subtly craning over the crowd to find Woozi.

“Why couldn’t you have picked a taller guy to like? That would make this so much easier,” he whines, but quickly hunches over as you elbow him in the side. Minghao simply sighs as he weaves the both of you through the throngs of people, navigating between sloshing drinks and gyrating bodies.

This isn’t really your scene, so as much as you are annoyed with Jun and Minghao for dragging you out, you appreciate the fact that one of them has a steadying hand on your back while the other makes sure that your path through the crowd is clear. It’s not so much the number of people that bother you as much as it is the number of _strangers_ , and it’s this nervousness that fuels the burning desire to keep drinking. Neither of them comment as you crack open a third beer, but you do ignore the wry glance Minghao gives you before pulling you both to the side. Another boy approaches you, and you have to double take at the beaming expression on his face. Jun gives him an enthusiastic slap on the back as Minghao nods in acknowledgement, offering him a cheery “Hoshi-hyung,” while he’s at it.

You wave in greeting but can’t bring yourself to engage with the boys’ conversation. Instead, you let your gaze slip around the room, looking at the buzzing crowd and trying to see if you can spot any familiar faces. There are a few people you recognize from classes here and there, but no one you feel like approaching at the moment. Hoshi, Jun, and Minghao seem to be enjoying themselves, and you hope you’re not too much of a downer ( _you aren’t normally like this, you swear_ ), but you just want to look around _one_ more time…just in case.

Luckily – _or not_ – you don’t have to look for long.  

“Ah, Woozi! Over here!”

You think that must be Hoshi, because Jun and Minghao wouldn’t dare to do that to do – _would they? you hoped not_. The former pushes you forward as Jihoon saunters over, and you can feel the blood rushing to your face.

Everyone else pales in comparison. He walks over as if he owns the room, like a wave crashing upon the shore that it owns, and the people around him part easily to let him through. His shirt is loose enough to grace you with the sight of creamy collarbones; embarrassingly, you feel your mouth water, and you take another swig of your drink to try and ground yourself with something, _anything_. Belatedly, you remember that you had only haphazardly thrown together your outfit, and that your eyeliner was probably crooked – _because really, what were the chances that you would have actually seen him tonight_ – which only causes you to flush even more.

He gives a small nod to the boys before glancing your way, and you are really _not_ ready for this.

“Hey.”

“Hi! Um, I’m y/n, Jun and Minghao’s friend.” You look over at them, only to furrow your brows when you notice them slowly shuffling away ( _how could they even think of leaving you behind, when they’re the reason you came in the first place!_ ). “It’s, uh, nice to meet you.”

Jihoon seems to mull your words over a bit – _and you, a little bit, but you could just be dreaming all of this up_ – before giving you a murmured, “Same.”

There are so many things you could ask him. How was your day? Where did you get that jacket, it looks pretty cool? What’s a guy like you doing talking to a girl like me? Words bubble at the tip of your tongue, and as they stumble over another, what comes out of your mouth is:

“What were you thinking about? Back then, at the coffee shop.”

The look he gives you makes you wish you had never asked, and to be honest, you don’t blame him. You weren’t ever someone that was going to _talk_ to Jihoon, because you did not exist in the same worlds. You did not live the same lives. You weren’t even sure you breathed the same oxygen, to be honest.

Things are different, because watching him from a distance – _as he flits from class to class, as he hides away in headphones and sweaters, as he goes about in his own world_ –was one thing. Lee Jihoon is captivating -  that is undeniable - but there is also something about him that intimidates you, as if he has a force of nature slowly simmering inside him. Like a summer storm just waiting with the first strike of lightning to split the sky apart. Like a river that cuts the land apart, with currents running underneath that would sweep even the bravest away. Like a tempest brewing in the distance, thunderous and testy, but just far away enough to lull you into a sense of false safety.

Actually talking to him puts you too close to the eye of his storm. You are too vulnerable, too naive, ill-prepared and wholly unconfident in this conversation. Which is why it surprises you when he actually responds.

“I was just listening a few tracks that I was thinking of putting together,” he hums, quirking his head with curiosity. “Have we meet before or something?”

If you weren’t embarrassed before, you certainly were now. “I just…notice you. Around. You’re hard to ignore.”

“Do you normally notice strangers?” He presses, now curious. Anxiously, you worry your lower lip, gaze slipping to the side.

“I…no. Not really.”

“Oh? Does that mean we’re not strangers?” The way he says it – _confidently, teasingly, heart-poundingly_ – catches your tongue and makes any witty response that you could have responded with fizzle up.

So instead you squeak, “Not if you don’t want to be?”

At that, Woozi lets loose a bark of laughter, and eyes you with a glint that warms you to the core.  He leans in with the barest of smirks, and eyes you over. “I might take you up on that,” he murmurs.

This is too much. There is no way this is really happening, and you should probably tap out while you’re ahead. “I, uh, should probably go find Jun and Minghao soon,” you stammer, nervously eyeing the people filling in the room. Jihoon takes a moment to look around, licking his lips in thought before nodding, but he doesn’t make any move to go just yet. Just as you gather up the confidence to leave – _run away, really, but what’s the difference?_ – the crowd swells at your back and pushes you forwards.

Into Lee Jihoon.

Your hands are pressed up against his chest, and the proximity is overwhelming, really. Woozi smells of clean laundry and a hint of musk, and the warmth emanating from him is addictive. He’s even more handsome up close, and you can’t believe that you settled looking from a distance before. It barely does him justice. The bodies pulsing around you press you closer to him, and you wince before gathering up the strength to look him in the eye to apologize –

\- but then feel something underneath your palms, and your world stops. It takes you a second to process it, and you can’t help the wide stare you give him because that _can’t_ be what you think it is.

Can it?

“What are you doing?” He looks at you, eyes furrowed with a slight pitch in his voice. You freeze, because really, _what are you doing?_ How are you going to explain half groping the guy you’ve been dreaming of all semester? It takes a second for you to process everything before you pull back and reign in your straying hands. They hover awkwardly at your chest, fluttering with nerves, and you try your best to put some space between you and Woozi.

That _must_ have been what you thought it was. It had to have been.

Lee Jihoon has a nipple piercing. And you are that much more of a mess because of it.

He moves his gaze onto you, eyes hooded with suspicion. He glances downwards, before looking back at you with a flat expression on his face. Something about it – _not quite an icy glare, but definitely just as chilling_ – makes you incredibly fearful, and you’re just about ready to book it before he speaks up.

“You like it?”

**Author's Note:**

> like, i'm not saying i’m weak for call call call woozi...and that i pictured him in that denim jacket and slicked back hair…but….call call call era woozi with a whole ass NIPPLE PIERCING. this totally might not be true but let me live my dream
> 
> i can't believe my first fic on this site is about his potential god damn nipple piercing


End file.
